


who is he?

by Meynara



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Anal Fingering, Hunk (Voltron) is a Good Friend, Identity Reveal, Kuron doesn't know he's a clone, Kuron goes by another name, Kuron is a clone, Kuron is not a perfect copy of Shiro, Lion Bonds, M/M, Polyamory, VLD Ship Exchange 2018, clone theory, like super good friend, until he does, written and set post S5
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-20
Updated: 2018-04-17
Packaged: 2019-04-23 23:55:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14343630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meynara/pseuds/Meynara
Summary: When Keith and the Black Lion had found Shiro, months and months ago, Keith thought that was the end of that.Shiro was home. Shiro was safe.Until he wasn't.





	who is he?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [imagines](https://archiveofourown.org/users/imagines/gifts).



> Written for [belovedsheith](https://belovedsheith.tumblr.com/) for the [Voltron Ship Exchange](https://vldshipexchange.tumblr.com/) over on tumblr!
> 
> All characters are assumed to be of age, and have been of age, there is absolutely nothing going on with anyone being under eighteen.
> 
> Also, wanna give a shoutout to some awesome friends of mine that I've been RPing with on discord the past couple of months, who...indirectly (or maybe directly, I don't know) inspired parts of this story.

It always seemed as if there was never enough time for the two of them anymore -- something Keith couldn’t ever really fault Shiro for, because it wasn’t his fault.

_It wasn’t. It_ never _was. That was part of what it **meant** to be with one Takashi Shirogane. To be **in love** with Takashi Shirogane. _

First it had been the Kerberos mission, the training and time taken and devoted and wasted and lost for a mission that was doomed to **failure**. Then the failure itself, the initial feelings of loss and inadequacy Keith had felt, thinking that he was gone, gone forever even though he knew there was absolutely no way he could be gone.

~~_(He’d promised.)_ ~~

Then he was back  ~~of course he was, he'd promised!~~ only for them to go to space with three other boys neither of them had really known, inside a Blue Mechanical Lion, and okay it was weird but at least they were together. They made time for each other as best as they could, working together almost flawlessly.

Only for Shiro to be taken away from him once again. There wasn't anything Keith could point his finger at, no way to know where Shiro had gone, to know how to get him back, but this time he had the means to _do something about it_.

So, he did. No matter the looks from Allura, the talking he heard from the other Paladins -- they didn't know, they couldn't know, how bad things were when Shiro was gone, and he was out there! Keith would do anything he could to find Shiro, _to bring him back_ , they **needed** the Black Paladin...

...until they _didn't_. Only Keith still needed him, but now they could form Voltron without Shiro.

That had been the day Keith's heart broke, the day he was almost certain he'd never see Shiro again, that he was gone beyond reach, gone to where Keith could never hope to follow. He had to lead the team, he had to pilot the Black Lion, just like Shiro had wanted.

~~_**Shiro, why?** _ ~~

The Black Lion herself had been the one to indicate any sort of awareness of Shiro's location in the end, had been the one who led Keith to him, alone in that stolen Galra drone, barely clinging to life but he was there, he was alive and he wasn't perfectly fine but he would be. _He would be._

Except in the end, he **wasn't**. Oh, overall he appeared to be mostly the same. Slight haircut change, his clothing choices were a little different, but this was a man who had survived two stays in captivity with the Galra, people changed all the time. So, naturally, Keith didn't worry about it too much, instead being happy that they had him back where he belonged.

Even if Black didn't initially accept him back. Even if they now had six Paladins for five Lions. Even if Lance ~~(Lance who had never been a close friend but now was so much more than he had been, much less a rival and more a precious teammate)~~ feared he needed to be replaced. Things weren't perfect, but they had him back.

_**They had him back...!** _

And if he was more demanding than he had been before, there was nothing wrong with that. He couldn't lead them on the field without a Lion, but he could help strategize, help keep an eye on the team as a whole in a way that they couldn't from the field -- in a way _Keith_ couldn't with his trouble relating to others.

Even in the bedroom he had changed, no longer the careful attentive lover he had known before Kerberos and even after, now instead being more passionate, assertive, and it was different. It was. But it wasn't _bad_.

Even when he left the team to train with the Blade of Marmora once the Black Lion accepted Shiro once again, it was fine. Shiro was fine, Keith was _fine_. His friends were distant now, though. He hadn't heard from them since he left to begin training and working with the Blade in earnest, not until the fiasco that was Naxela -- and even then their reunion was short lived, not even a reunion given they only spoke over communications and there was little passed between him and the group he had considered his new family.

But...it was fine. Everything was fine now. Now, Keith had reunited with his mother, Lotor was on the throne of the Galra Empire, team Voltron had helped to find some mystical Altean place that Keith didn't much care to know about beyond hey, it was there.

And now, after months away, he was reunited with his lover, **his** Shiro, and they had time together, time to themselves, and they were using it to the utmost, clothing hastily discarded, Keith's suit opened and tossed to the side as they held one another tightly, Keith's back pressed against the wall in Shiro's quarters, Shiro himself in front of him, their mouths pressed together in a heated kiss as if it was the last time they would be together like this. Saliva glistened along Keith's shoulder, his neck, his mouth along with small red marks that would quickly become bruises, his hands reaching up and holding onto Shiro's back, fingernails digging into the exposed skin as Shiro's mechanized arm moved to lift him up.

God, how he'd missed this, _needed_ this. Needed Shiro right there with him, surrounding him, inside of him, one arm still holding him up while the other carefully inserted a lubricated finger, preparing the smaller of the two for what was to happen, not once letting his mouth off of Keith's, inhaling the small gasps and whimpers coming from the half Galra trapped against the wall most willingly.

Only when he began to insert a second lubricated finger did Shiro pull his head back to let Keith breathe, his own mouth going to nip along the younger man's neck. "So good for me, aren't you, Keith? Opening up so well for me, you'll get your reward soon, so soon, just stay nice an--" Before he could finish the thought, however, an alarm began to blare, lighting the room red, causing him to growl, more than loud enough for Keith to hear as Shiro carefully pulled his fingers back, lowering Keith to the floor beneath them.

"Coran? What's going on?"

"There's been a security breech on deck fourteen," Coran's voice came from the comms -- comms that Keith wasn't quite sure where they were located, but there wasn't a camera at least. One less thing to worry about as he and Shiro both hastily threw their clothing back on -- him his Marmora suit, Shiro his Paladin armor. "The other Paladins are en-route as we speak, but we can never be too careful."

"Understood, we're heading that way." Shiro was clasping his armor on as Keith finished getting his own outfit situated, putting his blade where it resided on his hip before the two were out the door, heading for the lift to take them to deck fourteen and whoever was awaiting them there.

As the lift opened, an oddly familiar scene greeted the pair. What appeared to be a man in dark clothing was running down the halls, Pidge being dragged along behind him by her bayard. Keith was quick to follow after them, Shiro on their tail as they tried to stop the man, tried to get him to slow down, to capture him, but it wasn't until he turned and saw Keith that he stopped in his tracks, causing Pidge to smack into him.

"Keith? Is that -- is that _you_?" The man's voice was full of wonder, even as it was rough as if from a long period of disuse, the man's head completely covered with a hood, cloth over his face and hair. The only thing visible was a pair of cobalt black eyes, trained on Keith, wide and almost unbelieving. "They said you were gone...! That you'd _left_ the team!"

"Who the hell _are_ you?" Keith's voice was lower than usual, almost growling as one hand grabbed his blade, the luxite glowing faintly as it extended to it's larger form, Shiro standing behind him while Pidge kept her bayard trained on the stranger. "Who are you that you'd even _care_ about whether or not I'm part of a team?"

The masked man gave a long assessing gaze not to Keith, but to Shiro, as if distrusting the Paladin, before reaching to remove the cloth from his face, revealing a long scar across his nose, and a streak of white hair at the front where he would have bangs if they had been trimmed and not held back. He looked virtually identical to Shiro, the Shiro standing behind Keith, aside from the length of his hair and what looked to be another thin scar on his right cheek.

"I'm Takashi Shirogane, and that man standing behind you is a fake."

* * *

Of course, chaos descended after that, with Pidge quickly grabbing hold of the new Shiro's arm -- revealing it was, in fact, identical to the one their Shiro had -- and they went to the location where they had held Lotor after he joined them (but before he was trusted and allowed to roam the castleship at will). Keeping his eyes on Keith, the new Shiro (the real Shiro?) went along quietly, sitting on the bed in the tiny cell as all of the castle's inhabitants came down to the room. Granted, half of them were already right there, but this...

...this was too big to not have everyone there for it.

"Okay, this is beyond creepy," Lance frowned, leaning forward in his armor to look closer at the Shiro being held in the cell. "He really does look almost identical. The differences are--"

"Are his hair and a scar, yes, Lance, we know," Allura jumped in, not sounding irritated but well, they'd all noticed just that. "The thing is, we need to figure out who the real Shiro is -- and who the other one really is, whether he's a shapeshifter or a clone or something similar."

"That's simple enough, Princess," Coran held up a small device. "We just need to compare their genetic makeup to what we have in our database. See which matches with the Shiro on record, and if they both match, we move on from there." There wasn't even a moment of hesitation before he went to take the flesh and blood hand of the Shiro standing outside of the prison and quickly pricked the thumb, getting a reading almost instantly. "And we have a match. Now, let's see if we have two matches..." There was a moment's hesitation before he stepped into the cell with the other Shiro, wiping off the traces from the first one before taking another reading.

After a long moment of quiet, it was finally Pidge who spoke up. "Well?"

"It's -- it's a match." Coran's eyes narrowed, not at either Shiro but at the device he held. "Species that can change their shape at will can only appear different, they don't show as different with this," he held it up once more.  
  
"Of course it's a match," the trapped Shiro said, reaching up with his flesh and blood hand to pull his hair back over his shoulders. "What you have over there is the result of Project Kuron. He's a clone of me. Physically the same as me, has some of the same memories, but with brainwashing thrown in there as well, from what I was able to overhear when I was actually awake." His voice was still scratchy, still sounded like it hadn't been used in ages, but also sounded completely and utterly _exhausted_.

Lance was already moving forward, expression confused and irritated, but before he could speak he was interrupted by Keith. "Explain. What happened to you? Where have you been this whole time?" He paused a moment, looking from one Shiro to the next -- from Shiro, trapped in the cell, to this 'Kuron,' who looked as if he'd had the breath knocked out of him where he stood beside Keith. "I'm not saying I believe you yet but...we need to hear this, I think."

Shiro gave a small smile to Keith before taking a breath. "I won't be able to tell you much. I'm...not even sure how long I've been gone, honestly. They -- they learned after the last time they had their hands on me, the Galra. One moment I was in the Black Lion, flying with everyone else, fighting against Zarkon, then I just...passed out. When I woke up, which was only for a couple of moments, I was back in one of their med bays. They did what was necessary to keep me alive, but that was...that was about it. The brief moments of consciousness I had, I could hear them talking, about how well Project Kuron was going. How it had infiltrated the team, how Keith left the team. How well the conditioning had taken hold, because no one could even tell there was a difference between me and the plant."

"How'd you manage to escape?" Of all people to ask, it was Hunk that seemed the most interested, his arms crossed loosely over his chest, seeming mostly at ease, his gaze remaining on Shiro.

"Zarkon's witch had to move quickly," Shiro looked over to Hunk, taking in his posture before looking to Keith once more. "They had to get me loaded onto another ship, because...because Zarkon was gone. She needed to be hidden, along with her lackeys, because someone else was coming to power. Their intention was to take me with them, but the medicine they'd been using to keep me sedated wore off. They hadn't anticipated that, and she'd only kept the bare minimum around her it looked like, so when I managed to get free...they didn't catch me."

"How do we know you're not the clone?" Keith's voice shook slightly, his eyes narrowed. "It seems awfully convenient that you escaped if you'd been held captive as long as you claim -- which also would mean you only recently escaped, and your body would have--"

"--deteriorated from months of not being used? Keith, there are things that have been in use in the medical field for years and years to prevent muscle deterioration back on Earth. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the Galra had similar, especially if they might have hoped to turn Shiro to their side." Pidge, like Hunk, looked at ease by now, though she remained at a bit of a distance, hand still holding on to her bayard. "It wouldn't have been perfect, most likely, but it's not unreasonable."

Shiro gave her a nod of approval, "She's right. Though, I don't think they could have turned me to their side...and I don't recall them attempting to, but who knows what could have happened with enough time, if things hadn't changed in the end." Taking in a deep breath, he exhaled quickly. "Regardless, yes. I fled, I took a small ship and made my way through the stars, trying to find out what all had happened while I was gone, to see if what they had said was right -- if I had been replaced, if Keith had left Voltron, if it was too late to try to save -- try to save you all."

Silence descended over the room, all eyes on Shiro until a very faint 'whoosh' could be heard. Turning their heads almost as one, it was quickly discovered just _what_ had made the sound.

Kuron had left.

* * *

 

Walking slowly into the Black Lion's hangar, Kuron still stood in the Black Paladin armor, eyes cast upward at the large mechanical cat, helmet tucked underneath his arm. It only took a few moments before she was lowering herself to the ground, maw opened to let the man inside, where he moved to sit in the pilot's seat, setting the helmet on the floor beside him.

"So, that was it, wasn't it? Why you wouldn't trust me at first. Because I'm -- I never was really him." His voice shook, confidence long gone as he saw the man who looked virtually identical to him -- heard the story coming from his lips. Because he knew, he _knew_ Shiro was right. It wasn't that Kuron didn't want to be Shiro -- because, really, he did, it was all he'd known -- but it made things add up. Missing memories, things Keith would mention but he couldn't remember as hard as he'd tried. Comments about  how he'd changed. The fact that the Black Lion had in fact initially rejected him upon his arrival to the castleship.

It made too much sense. Why he lost his temper so much quicker than he had before, why he felt things that didn't always seem right. Of course, Keith hadn't ever really commented on any of this, but it still made the knowledge heavy in his heart. In the back of his mind, along the bond he shared with the Lion, he felt a soft reassurance, as if things would be fine now.

Things wouldn't be fine, though. Not for him. He was an intruder, a plant. He -- he needed to leave, to escape so that the others, so **_Keith_** , would be safe from him.

"So this is where you ran off to." Kuron didn't need to turn to know that his double was standing behind him, like he'd known it would happen -- but he hadn't expected to hear Keith's voice. "We got worried when you just left without a word."

"Worried?" Leaning back in the seat, Kuron closed his eyes, fighting off the headache that was coming -- the headaches that seemed to come more and more often as of late, especially since Zarkon's death. "You guys don't need to worry about me anymore. I was just...just coming out here to think. I don't need to stay where I'm not exactly gonna be welcome soon enough. I mean, I knew something was wrong with me, I just -- I didn't think I wouldn't be who I thought I was."

Shiro laughed -- a full laugh, low and slightly amused. "For what it's worth, no one wants to think they're anyone but who they are. But, well, I can't say much. To an extent we are the same person, after all. I can guess what's going through your mind right now, because I know what I would do in the same boat. And...you should do what you think is right, Kuron."

"What I think is right?" Now Kuron sounded tired, exhausted. "What I think would be right would be for me to just leave and never return. The team will be happier with _you_ here than me. If I was planted, it wasn't to do a good deed. It was to cause destruction, to sow seeds of discontent, and really, it seems like I was doing that whether I wanted to or not. So...best thing is for me to leave."

There was a soft scoff coming from the smallest of the trio inside the Black Lion, eyes narrowed as he crossed his arms over his chest. "So you're just going to take the coward's way out of this, then? Leaving without so much as a word to anyone?"

Quickly standing, Kuron practically towered over Keith -- Shiro watching carefully, but not immediately stepping in, though the clenched metal fist at his side revealed just how badly he wanted to. "What else would you have me do, Keith? We both know there can't be two pilots for the Black Lion, let alone three. If I stay, I'll be used against you all. Against **you**. I've done enough damage. I -- I can't cause more."

"The choice isn't yours alone to make," Keith didn't seem even remotely fazed by the man being in his bubble, if anything he just stood tall, eyes glinting. "You didn't stay to let any of us say anything. We can figure something out -- you're too important to just let ride off into the sunset like the Lone Ranger!"

" _ **Important**_? What about _me_ is important?" Kuron was almost growling now, eyes narrowed as hands reached out to grab hold of Keith. "I'm not **real**. Everything about me is fabricated, Keith. I -- I thought I was real but, if I'm not Takashi Shirogane, then who am I?"

"You're a member of this team," Shiro said, moving forward to gently pry Kuron's hands off of Keith's arms as Keith himself continued to look up at Kuron. "The Black Lion chose you -- maybe not initially, but she did. Until she doesn't react to you, you're still a Paladin of Voltron. Look around -- she's reacted to you. Not _me_ , not _Keith_ , but **you**."

As Kuron pulled himself away from Shiro, Keith moved forward, eyes glinting more as if lit by flames within. "You are your own person, regardless of how things started. You have made choices you thought for the best, regardless of whatever else was done to you -- and you made choices that have made you into a person completely different from Shiro. This is not a bad thing. So, please -- please don't leave us. Stay! _Fight_! **_Win_**! Show that witch that you won't be a puppet of hers any longer!" Reaching out a hand, Keith fully intended to grab onto Kuron -- but he wouldn't allow it.

**He couldn't.**

Quickly, he pulled away, moving around Keith, intent on leaving the Lion's cockpit, leaving the castleship with his thoughts blurring together. It wouldn't work -- it couldn't, especially since he didn't know how he was being used! So, easiest decision he'd made in the entire time of his existence (which how long even was that?) and correct, as far as he knew, was to leave.

Shiro's voice raised, Keith moved to follow after, but neither were quick enough.

Someone else, however, was. Inside the Lion's cockpit, everything lit up, going brighter, the dark colors giving way to a lighter and lighter purple as her maw shut, keeping the three men inside, her eyes lit up a bright yellow. Once the light had built up to an almost white within, it arched out, moving past Keith, past Shiro, and hitting Kuron in the middle of his being, causing him to black out before he realized what was even happening.

* * *

"Oh, shit, _please_ don't be dead." Keith was almost instantly on top of Kuron as he fell to the ground, trying (and failing) to catch him, ultimately being little more than cushion beneath the larger man, pinned between his body and the floor in the Black Lion's cockpit. "Shiro, little help, please?"

Honestly, he didn't need to ask, Shiro had been not too far behind him, carefully rolling Kuron off of Keith before checking for a pulse. "I've got you, it's okay. And...I think he's okay, too. Heart's still beating, if quicker than it should be. We'll get Coran to look him over. Are -- are you okay, Keith?"

"Just a little winded, I'll be fine," Keith's voice was distracted as he rolled himself the other way, moving to get a good look at Kuron, eyes widening as he did so. "...there's no way anyone would mistake the two of you for one another anymore," he added with a hint of amusement in his voice.

While there were still glaring similarities, there were glaring differences between the two now, or well, one big difference. Shiro's hair was still long, mostly black with a stripe of white at the front. Kuron, on the other hand, still had a shorter cut with undercut, but instead of having the two tones of Shiro's hair...

...it was **_all_ ** white.

"I guess that is a small blessing in all this," Shiro said, voice low as he kept his eyes on Keith -- his flesh and blood hand reaching out to grasp Keith's arm before deciding against it. "Here, help me get him moved, though, any idea what she did?"

"I don't know -- I haven't been a Paladin in a long time, Shiro, they don't exactly talk to me much." There was something hidden in his voice, something he didn't want Shiro to hear even as it wrapped itself around Keith's heart. _Sadness_.

"Well, we need to know--" Shiro was cut off abruptly, but Keith couldn't see a reason why. The glowing within the cockpit had dulled since striking out at Kuron, but it was still plenty lit up. However, the cockpit and her control panels weren't the only things glowing.

Shiro's _eyes_ were glowing as well, though they didn't change color much. The whites of his eyes stood out more, the pupils small pinpricks in the middle, but the irises, they looked to be somewhere between their usual dark grey and the purple reflected around them, swirling together.

"Shiro? Shiro, talk to me, what's going on?" Now wasn't the time to panic -- except, a small part of him that sounded like Hunk wanted to disagree violently -- but there was entirely too much going on, too fast, and this was not _normal_ in any meaning of the word.

When Shiro opened his mouth, the voice that accompanied it did not make matters any better. "Easy, Red Cub. All is well." The voice was an odd mixture of what Shiro (and Kuron) often sounded like, but...higher in pitch, closer to a high tenor or even a low alto, with a faint rumbling underneath. "I did not meant to alarm. Just wish to explain."

Keith's eyes narrowed once more, but he couldn't do much more as the cogs in his mind slowly turned, putting the pieces of the puzzle together that were in front of him until it clicked. "You're using Shiro to talk through, aren't you?"

'Shiro's' eyes warmed as he nodded. "Indeed. Our bond is not as strong as it once was. And you needn't worry. The White Cub will be well, he merely needs rest. I did what he did not know _how_ to do -- what he did not know _needed to be **done**_."

"But what -- what was that? What did you do to him? You -- you literally made his hair all white!" Keith's voice rose, speaking to the one who used Shiro as a mouthpiece. "You zapped him!"

"I did what needed to be done, Red Cub. Nothing more." The voice coming from Shiro sounded as warm as the eyes looked now. "He needed to be separated from the one pulling his strings. There has been a faint corruption of his quintessence within. I merely purged it from him with some of my own, as well as cutting the connection that had been made within."

Now Keith looked confused -- confused and _tired_. "If you knew it was there, why didn't you do anything sooner?"

_**Now**_ , now ' _Shiro_ ' looked less warm -- eyes still glowing, but growing somewhat colder, even...sadder? "Because resources were too thin. It will take time before he is fit to pilot once more. Because he was not aware of the connection, and thus could not consent to it being broken. Knowing it was there, he didn't know it could be broken -- thus he tried to flee. I did what I could to make things...better. For everyone. For my White Cub." There was silence for a long moment before the glowing began to fade. "I leave my Cubs to you, Red Cub. Take care of them."

"Wait -- wait, I have more--" It was too late, the glow was gone, leaving Shiro clearing his throat as if trying to get rid of something that had rested in there too long. "...questions."

Making a face, Shiro absently rubbed at his eyes before going to lift Kuron. "...we can ask questions later, Keith. We've got time now. We need to get him somewhere comfortable, first." He looked over to Keith and gave a small smile. "Let's see if we can commandeer a guest room or something for him, yeah? He probably won't feel comfortable in...well. Where he was sleeping."

Keith's face flushed lightly as he moved to take Kuron's other side -- the side with his human arm. "Right, we can put him in the room next to mine. I...never feel comfortable in the room I had before, either, so..." He coughed before the three began to carefully exit the Lion, her maw shutting gently behind them as she rose back to her usual sitting position, powering down.

* * *

Now that things were calmer (relatively speaking), Shiro couldn't take his eyes off of Keith. They had managed to get Kuron situated in the large, comfortable bed, and stripped out of his armor and left in nothing but tight fitting boxer briefs beneath the blankets pulled up around him. Keith, for his part, seemed reluctant to leave Kuron's side. He'd managed to go far enough to collect some of Shiro's old clothing for him, as well as his own casual clothing, but otherwise had remained right where he was seated beside the bed.

Things connected rather quickly in Shiro's mind after that, recognizing the expression on Keith's face. That was the look that had before been reserved for him and him alone. But now...

...now Kuron saw the softer side of Keith as well.

He wanted to be jealous -- felt he should be, honestly, but...well. It wasn't Keith's fault that they had found Kuron instead of Shiro himself. It wasn't Keith's fault that Kuron was similar enough to Shiro that he wasn't able to tell the difference.

None of this was Keith's fault -- and he **_knew_ ** it. Shiro himself had been the one to tell Keith to follow his heart, to believe in himself, give himself more credit than he ever thought he deserved.

He'd just never anticipated that would be what led Keith away from him.

"Hey, I'm gonna step out for a bit, okay, Keith?" Shiro did his best to not laugh as Keith looked up at him, eyes wide and somewhat vacant before nodding.

"Yeah, okay, I'll...I'll be here," Keith responded, feeling more than a little awkward -- _looking_ more than a little awkward.

Keith was the Prince of Awkward, honestly, and something that had endeared the younger man to him some time ago.

Giving a small wave and a smile, Shiro stepped out, leaving Keith with Kuron, letting his own feet lead where they wished to go. It had been some time since he was able to just walk where he wanted to go, after all. Being imprisoned for some time made it hard to have personal time, and then upon being freed? He had to fight and run and crawl his way home, where he thought Keith was waiting for him.

Only to find...he wasn't.

His heart ached, but there wasn't much of anything he could do about that. At least, nothing that would feel right.

Shiro was supposed to be the Black Paladin, the decisive Head of Voltron, the pilot of the Black Lion, the Golden Boy of the Galaxy Garrison...

But all he wanted was to be Takashi Shirogane, with Keith Kogane, two men in love and who would be beside one another for all time. At least, that was how it had felt at the time, how it had felt before he found himself replaced. Granted, he'd known he'd been replaced to some extent because Voltron was still out there -- was still giving the Galra Empire so much trouble -- but he hadn't thought it would be as bad as it was.

"Hey, Shiro?" The man in question was pulled out of his thoughts as someone called after him, sounding confused.

...Shiro himself was confused. When had he made his way to the kitchen? Oh, Hunk -- that was who was addressing him. Right.

"Hey, Hunk, what's going on?" He put a smile on his face, moving to rest against the counter top, watching Hunk doing what he did best most days: cooking. "I was just, getting a breath of air."

"Uh huh. Looking like someone just kicked your puppy in the process." This Hunk was definitely a good deal more confident than the one he remembered leaving behind -- which was a good thing, as far as Shiro was concerned. However, he didn't exactly like that Hunk seemed to be able to see through him so easily.

"I don't have a puppy."

"Ye-huh you do," Hunk gave him a small smile before turning back to cooking, kneading dough from the looks of things. "His name is Keith and you've hung all over him from day one. Granted, it wasn't as _noticeable_ at the time? But looking back, we all know, man. Did the uh, clone you give you two trouble?"

"No, no, he didn't -- I mean, he did but not like what you're thinking. He didn't try to hurt us. If anything, he really like, was trying to do the opposite, which I mean? If he was cloned off of me, had my memories and all...that's what I would've done." Shiro took a deep breath before exhaling harshly. "I really can't blame him for anything he's done. He thought he was me. He **_is_ ** me to an extent--"

"No he's not." Hunk put the dough down, moving to wash his hands under the sink quickly. "You're you, Shiro. Biologically? Yeah, he's you. More like you than a twin even could be. But do you know...there's been studies in clones before, on Earth. He has your DNA, he has _some_ of your memories, emphasis on **_some_**." He turned the water off, drying his hands as he turned to look Shiro squarely in the face. "There are things he did that confused us. Now? It makes sense. See, you have more memories than you realize within you. Things that affect how you act, what you do in a given situation based on those essentially forgotten memories. Your brain doesn't quite remember them, but your body does. _Your_ body. Not the cloned body that has the same DNA, and some of the same memories they might have been able to duplicate from you."

Shiro sighed, leaning over so his elbows were propped on the counter, putting his face in his hands, looking down. "Hunk, that just makes it _more_ complicated. If he -- if this clone, isn't me, then I should be angry about Keith falling for him. But...I just, I can't be angry about it. Sad. Tired. But...not angry. If they're happy together, then that should be the end of it. Right?"

There was a pause before Hunk sighed. "This whole situation isn't...it's not going to be happy for everyone. But in the end, you shouldn't feel obligated to put their happiness before yours. I mean, that's the 'good' thing to do, but it's not 'bad' to want some of it for yourself, either. Not everything is going to be as easy as deciding 'oh we need to go fight these people because they're hurting innocent people.' In this, there really isn't a right choice except...that you owe it to Keith, at least, to talk to him -- to them." There was another pause as Hunk shifted, his gaze looking past Shiro until he shook his head, moving around to come stand beside the older, taller man. "I mean, have you stopped to think about what Keith might want? What if he doesn't want to have to pick between you? What if he can't, at that? Look, he was the one who tried the hardest, the longest to search for you. He was the one most elated when we found...well, _him_." Hunk clearly didn't know what to call Kuron -- no one really did, because Kuron itself seemed a bit impersonal but...what other choices did they have? "He was so...so happy. And no one could tell the difference then. He looked a bit how you did coming in today, actually. Long hair, stubble. The only difference was he looked just shy of dead, whereas you were kicking our asses in the hall."

"Really? I mean -- I had an advantage over you guys but..."

"No buts. You weren't -- I mean, of course you weren't here to know, but yeah. When Keith brought him in, he was almost out of oxygen, hadn't had anything to eat or drink in days...and that was after freshly escaping where he'd been held prior. You at least look like you had plenty of air and were able to get food and drink." Hunk paused for a moment. "And a little exercise, you weren't like, stumbling over yourself or anything either."

"Well, Hunk, I'm sure you know about this better than I do but...you know the Voltron Show?" Shiro looked up through his hair at the shorter man, who nodded with a frown. "Apparently it was really popular. I was cleaning myself up after hitching a ride through space and...well. I have fangirls out there. And they -- they have some scary connections. They got me clothes, food and drink, rides between people until I finally had to tell them no more, because I didn't want them to get hurt."

"....so those crazy things really did do some good. I still feel like shit having had to do them but, wow, I'm glad that helped you get back to us." Hunk still seemed more than a bit disbelieving that anything actually helpful came from those awful shows, but quickly pushed the thought to the back of his head. "So, anyway, yeah. Keith was just...he was miserable without you. Don't distance yourself from him, just because you think he's happier with...well, you know. Because he just...I think he really deserves a say in this, too. Him and the other guy both."

"I wasn't going to be distancing myself--"

"Okay no you looked like your puppy got kicked out the airlock because you were going to try to make things right between the three of you. Of course, how foolish of me." The Samoan man shook his head even as he gave Shiro a pat to the shoulder. "I can see where my assistance isn't needed. Go at least _try_ to woo your man, okay?"

Taking a moment to stretch his back as he stood, Shiro nodded. "Right. I should probably go check on them anyway. Make sure everything's going alright. Maybe we'll be out in time for dinner."

"Don't rush yourselves on my account," Hunk laughed, moving back to the abandoned dough, beginning to knead it again, almost punching it into the counter. "If we don't see you, we'll save some for you guys."

Shiro thought he was seeing things as he stepped out of the kitchen, but he almost thought he saw a shadow quickly moving around the corner ahead as he moved back to where they'd taken Kuron. (But who would want, or need, to hide on the castleship?)

* * *

When Kuron awoke, it was to an empty room. He was almost naked, and tucked into a much more comfortable bed than he could have ever expected to find himself in. Before he could sit himself up, however, the door quickly opened, admitting a small figure which crossed quickly to sit beside his bed, leaning back into the chair he'd pulled there, eyes wide as he realized Kuron wasn't asleep.

"Oh! Uh, hi, hi, uh, you." Keith wasn't one to stammer much, but his face looked a bit red even in the dark light of the room, and it sounded as if he was trying to catch his breath. "Been awake long?"

Yawning, Kuron shook his head, finally moving to push himself up. "No, just woke up. What _happened_ , Keith? Why do you look like you just looked in the girls' locker room?" Granted, he wanted to know why his **chest** hurt, but he could get to that in a moment.

"I wasn't spying on Allura and Pidge, that's crude. I went to check on Shiro...that's all. He'd been gone for a little bit, and I got worried he might try to leave." Keith leaned his head back with a groan, kicking off his boots before propping his feet up on the bed. "But apparently he wasn't going to. So I just, uh, ended up hearing some things I probably wasn't meant to. Anyway, more important than that, how are you feeling? Black -- she said she'd...infused you with her quintessence?"

Kuron looked confused, absently rubbing his flesh hand over his chest. "...she...what? Black -- you mean, the Black Lion? Why would she do that?"

"Because you were connected to something, something tainted inside of you, but now you're not? So...you're completely free now. You can stay. You can -- you can go." Keith's voice hitched a moment before he calmed it, clearing his throat. "But staying isn't going to hurt us like going will."

"Us as in the team, or...us as in...us?" Kuron's voice was soft, his head looking away quickly, unable to keep looking at Keith while talking about this. About _them_. Them, and how there wouldn't be a them any more because, hey, Shiro was back.

Because he wasn't Shiro, he'd never _been_ Shiro even when everyone thought he _was_ \-- including **_himself_**.

"Both. No one was mad at you. Well...Lance was, but, that's Lance. Everyone else was worried, or confused, or awkward, or all three. Including me." Leaning forward, Keith took his feet off the bed and shifting his weight until he was on the bed beside Kuron. "You're not Shiro. I know that, we all know that now. But that doesn't erase the past months you've been here with us all. Even if we thought you were Shiro, well, you did, too?"

As Kuron's mouth opened to speak, the door to the bedroom opened, admitting Shiro. Kuron took one glance at him before looking away again -- from both Keith at his side and Shiro in the doorway. "Well, I'm not Shiro. I'm not even my own person, even if I'm as free as you say. I don't even have a name, do I?"

He could hear more than see Shiro approaching, coming to the other side of the bed, leaning over to sit on the bed while carefully keeping his feet off the blankets, body turned awkwardly so he was still able to look at Kuron. "Well, then, let's change that. We can't just call you Shiro, because...well, that's my name. And Kuron doesn't really sound like a name, either, especially not for you. So, how about Hikaru? Hikaru Shirogane. A nice, strong name."

"You'd...you'd just, give me your family name?" Kuron looked as confused as Keith did, sitting beside him.

Shiro's expression was serious, but earnest. "I would. Because there's things we know that no one else knows. And you might not literally be my brother, or my cousin, or anything else, but there's a bond there that it would be stupid to deny. Besides, it might save you some trouble out there if you run into any of our fangirls," his lips quirked up into a small smirk.

"We don't-- okay, you know what, if anyone is even half as thirsty as Coran was with the one shirt, then there's probably plenty of fangirls out there looking for Shirogane man-meat." Giving Shiro a dry look, Kuron could only nod. "...Hikaru, huh? Any particular reason behind that or just a nice looking name? Not that I'm complaining, just, pretty sure anything would beat 'Kuron' at this point. If I'm free from the witch, I don't want to have to share a name with a project I'm not attached to, either."

"Yeah, I'm curious about that myself," Keith added, scooting himself around on the bed so he could look at both men easily. "Wasn't that the name of one of those twins from that show yo--"

"Ah, ah, ah, no. No. I didn't show you anything like that no. Hikaru means 'brightness,' or well, that's one meaning of the name, depending on the way the word is made." Shiro was most definitely _not_ blushing right then, definitely not. "Given how everything ended up...it seemed fitting." Now Keith was looking skeptically at Shiro, but didn't comment, instead letting him turn back to Kuron. "So, what do you say?"

The man in question was quiet for a long moment before giving a quick nod, complete with a smile. "...yeah. Hikaru Shirogane, at your service. Still, sounds like you're ready for me to hit the road, huh, Shiro?" His smile didn't fade at all.

The ones Keith and Shiro were sporting, however, did, fading into almost matching frowns.

"That's...not what I meant at all, Hikaru." Shiro hesitated a moment before kicking his boots off as carefully as he could manage. "If that's what you want to do, I won't stop you. But I don't want you to. Going out there on your own, that's probably going to be really scary. It was scary as hell to me, but I had somewhere to go, someo-- somewhere to return to."

Keith caught the almost-slip from Shiro, but didn't comment on it. Instead, he built upon it. "And...even if you leave, we'll still be here. Granted, it won't be easy to find us, but...we'll be here. You fought with us, same as I did. I'm a Blade now, but this...this is as close to home as I've got. I know I'd feel better if you were here, too, helping the team out while I'm gone -- while you're finding yourself as a separate person. Because you...you really are." Keith looked over to Shiro helplessly. Words weren't his strong suit.

"You _are_ your own person. Deserving of your own name. Deserving of...of a choice." Shiro looked away. "Both of you are. I'm still in love with you, Keith. But it doesn't take much to see something more bloomed while I was away. If -- if the two of you want to continue what you had, then I will give you the space to do--"

"Takashi Shirogane, you shut your mouth right now." Keith was already scrambling across the bed -- quickly putting himself right in between Shiro and Hikaru. "You're not doing any such thing. At least, I don't want you to. I want you to stay right here, with us. If...if Hikaru feels differently, then we'll discuss it like the adults we are."

"Technically I'm an infant," Hikaru piped up, causing Shiro to laugh and Keith to groan.

"Oh my God, you have his sense of humor. Heaven help us all." While the two were amused, however, Keith was quick to grasp hold of Hikaru's prosthetic and Shiro's flesh and blood arm, pulling them both close to him. "Well, then, we'll listen to me, since I'm the only adult, and I say we make this work. But...if you two are ready to **_act_ ** like adults, then we'll talk. Sound good?"

"Alright, alright, I'll be good, Keith," Hikaru smiled, carefully leaning against Keith. "I can definitely act like an adult -- I've been doing so my whole life, after all." Shiro started snickering, getting a gentle smack to the leg from Keith. "Hey, it's true, though! I have been. At least, as far as I know. Still. I don't -- I mean, I don't want to push Shiro away." His voice became serious, leaning forward just enough so he could look beside him at the other two. "I really don't. And...I don't want to leave, you, Keith. But I don't -- how else would it work?"

Shiro was quiet, thinking, looking as if he had an idea but...wasn't sure how to present it.

Keith had no such compunctions. "Well, the way I see it, that means I get to keep both of you. Unless, Shiro, you'd rather not do that? Hikaru doesn't sound opposed, and I'm... _definitely_ not opposed. I'm not saying that you two have to...uh...see each other, I just...I want this bit of selfishness for myself. I've felt love from both of you -- and it's, it's very different. But that doesn't make it any less genuine, nor does it change how I feel about you both now."

The expression on Shiro's face was amused -- as if a light bulb went off in his mind -- before looking over at Hikaru. "Well, are you still sure you don't want to push me away, Hikaru?"

Humming, Hikaru looked as if he had to think about it. "I don't know, I think I like keeping Keith happy a bit more than that. Looks like you're well and truly stuck with us now."

"Oh, no, what _ever_ shall I do?" Shiro grinned, now leaning into Keith as well, effectively squishing the smaller man between them.

"Maybe start with getting off of me," Keith huffed, squirming between the two, his face a light pink. "I thought you were stuck with us, not me stuck in between!"

Hikaru snickered, leaning down so that he could press his cheek against Keith's. "Here I thought you would like being stuck in between us." Pulling his arm free from Keith's grasp, he moved it so he was holding the smaller man's waist, gently tugging him closer. "You feel awfully warm...are you okay?"

Eyebrow arching slightly, Shiro lifted himself up slightly to look down at Keith and -- **_oh_**. Wasn't **that** a pretty picture the two of them made? Almost mirroring Hikaru's movements, Shiro pressed his face against Keith's other cheek. "Mm, I think he's just very...happy, to have us both. Aren't you, Keith?"

"I -- okay, maybe, yes?" Keith's voice squeaked slightly, but he was well and truly stuck between the two men and...he couldn't be happier. "Yes, I'm happy to have both of you here. _Very_ happy."

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to follow [ meythecat ](https://meythecat.tumblr.com/) on Tumblr for more shenanigans!
> 
> (Also, there will be another part to this, so keep your eyes peeled!)


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